Station indicator



3 Sheets-Sheet 1.

(No Model.)

W. L. GROW.

STATION INDICATOR.

N0. 387,151. Patehted July 31, 1888.

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5141.) e wf'oz N, PETERS. Phmo-lillwgmpher. Wnhinginn, llv C (No Model.) 3 Sheets-Sheet 2.

, W. L. CROW.

STATION INDIOATOR.

No. 387,151. Patented July 31, 1888.

Zzven%1 N. PETERS. Phowuiho n har. Washington, D. c.

(No Model.)

W. L. CROW.

STATION INDIGATOR.

No. 387,151. Patented July 31, 1888.

N4 PETERS. Pbowumn n mn Wnhingwn, 0.0.

UNITED STATES PATENT GEEICE.

WILLIAM L. CROW, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

STATION-INDICATOR.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 387,151, dated July 31,1888,

Application filed July 28, 1887. 'Serial No. 245,500.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I. \VILLIAM L. GROW, of the city, county, and State of New York, have invented a new and useful Station-Indicator for Railways; and I hereby declare the following to be a full and clear description of the same.

Thisindicator consists of certain mechanism, as hereinafter described, and a set of cards or signs on which is plainly printed or painted the names of the stations or streets on any given road to which the indicator may be applied. The said cards or signs are placed in an inelosing case or housing conveniently adaptav ble to the upper part of the car in which it is to be placed, and the said cards arearranged in said box or case in consecutive order, reading consecutively, as per the stations or streets named from one end of the run to the other,and vice versa. ated by two pulls-first, to deliver cards from one end of the series in going over the road in one direction, and then from the other end of the series in going over the road in the other direction. The said pulls are operated by the brakeman or other trainman, respectively, as required for operating the cards or signs in the above-described consecutive manner, and the mechanism is such as hereinafter described, and simultaneously, or almost simultaneously, with the throwing down of any one card of the series the next preceding card or sign thereto-i. 6., the one previously thrown down will, by the same movement of the operating mechanism, be raised up. This construction shows the indicator to be very flexible, so that it can be used onone road or run one day, and on another road or run the next time, without changing the box or housing.

The invention will be readily understood by reference to the accompanyingdrawings, of which- Figure 1 is a general plan of the improved station-indicator, the cover or top of the box or case being removed to disclose the operating mechanism of the apparatus. Fig. 2 is a sectional side elevation of the apparatus, the front side of the case being removed in this figure. Fig. 3 is a detailed transverse sectional elevation of the operating mechanism, taken at'the dotted line w :0 of Fig. 2. Fig. 4

The operating mechanism is actu-- (No model.)

is a detail of the sign-bar and its suspensionworks. Fig. 5 is an enlarged detailed view of one of the operating sectors for manipulating the movable signs and the mechanism con nected therewith. Fig. 6 is a view similar to Fig. 5, and made to illustrate still more clearly some of the operative parts. Fig. 7 is a detailed plan of the spring attachment at end of the apparatus and its attached parts. Fig. 8 is an edge view of one of the operatingsectors and attached axle.

The inclosing-ease A may be of any size or shape suitable to the purpose, and exteriorly made to conform to the car or the port-ion of a car where it is to be placed. Four fixed axles, B, B, B and 13*, are seated at their respective opposite ends in the side of the case A and form fulcrums or supports for the principal operative parts of the machine.

The axles B and 13* furnish supports or fulcrums for a series of operating segmentallyended levers O and 0 said operating-levers, respectively, made in pairs and attached to and operating the opposite ends of the indicator sign-bars D The said sign-bars D are simply straight horizontal pieces of wood or metal, to the lower sides of which the indicator-signs are attached in the following manner: Each bar D has its lower ends bent inward and upward into hooks x, as shown in detail in Fig. 4.. The upper and inner ends of the hoolcpieces 00 form ledges on which the signs are held, each sigirpiece being provided at its upper edge with a horizontal ledge or bar on each of its sides, which, when the parts are in place, rest on top of the said hook-pieces 00, as shown in Fig. 4. This arrangement permits the sign-pieces to he slid in and out endwisethe inclosing-case being built so as to adapt it to this use, thereby permitting signs to be introduced into the ease or removed therefrom with ease and dispatch whenever occasion may require.

The respective opposite ends of the sign-bars D carry on their upper sides lugs d and d", through which,respectivel y, pass pivot-pins d and (2*, by means of which the said signs are attached or hinged to the said levers C and O". The top edge of each of the said sign-pieces also carries two upwardly-projecting lugs, d and d and one double-faced upwardlyprojecting hook, oi the said hook being placed longitudinally in the center of the sign, and the said lugs 01 and d respectively, about one-third of the distance between its end of the sign-piece and the central hook. The uses of these parts will be presently explained.

The axles B and B respectively, carry bent levers E and E which, respectively, have upwardly-extending arms 6 and c and downwardly-projecting hooks e and e, the latter, with the lower ends proper of the said levers, forming a sort of bifurcated lower arms of the said levers, respectively. The upper ends of the said levers-4. 0., their arms 0 and 6 respectively-close against stop-bars F, which arefixed permanently to the caseA, and tensionsprings G habitually hold the said arms 8 and 6" against their said stops, but permit them to be thrown off therefrom, as required by the operations of the machine, as hereinafter explained. The said levers E E are bent laterally, as shown in Fig. 3, so that while the hook c or 6*, as the case may be, is placed directly over one of the signs in position to engage with the sign-hook ol the bifurcated lower arm, 6 or e, as the case may be, is in position to be engaged by one of the lugs d or d of the next adjacent card or sign. The laterally-deflected arms 6 and a respectively project on opposite sides of the central card or sign to which their respective hooks e and e will engage, so as to allow for throwing down the next succeeding sign in whichever way the train or car may be running, as hereinafter described.

On the axles B and B are respectively mounted peripherally-grooved sectors G and G to the grooved peripheries of which are respectively attached operating chains or cords H H which are respectively conducted through one end of the box or case A and terminate in hand-pulls h and k by means of which the brakeman or other attendant operates the apparatus. 1

To the sectors G and G are respectively attached lateral operating-arms I and 1 which extend quite across the upper face of the whole series ofsigns D and their operating-arms. To the front ends of these operating arms are joined, by hinges z, follower-pieces I and I, the ofiice of which is to engage with the lifterbars D and D and thereby raise up the sign D, as presently explained. There are spring cushion-pieces t" and 1?, respectively attached to the follower-pieces I and I, and these,when their respective arms are thrown back,engage, respectively, againstspring-fenders i and i in such a manner as to ease the backward stop of the said arms I and I, and also when engaged therewith they hold up their respective follower-pieces l and I and permit the engaging ends d d of the lifter-bars D D to pass under them; but as soon as the rear ends of the,

said cushion-pieces shall have passed in their forward movement the contacting-surfacesof the fender-pieces 2' i, as the case may be, the. followers 1 or 1*, whichever may be inl use,

drops, so as to engage with the lip or tooth d or d of its respective lifter-bar, and the bar thus engaged moves on with and by the press ore of the said follower, and the sign D, attached to said lifter-bar,is thereby swung over and raised up, so that its central hook, d, is caught upon and held up by one of the retaining-hooks e or e, which are above described. The said hooks e and e are equidistant from the center of the apparatus, and are so placed that the hook (1 will engage with either of them, respectively, as the sign D is thrown up toward one end or the other by means of the said lifter-bars D D as described. The lifterbars D D are centrally mounted on the axles B and B, respectively, and the respective distance from each of these central supports to their pivot-pins d and d is equal,so that when one of the said lifter-bars is pulled over into a lateral or nearly lateral position, as shown by the dotted lines in Fig. 2, the sign,which is attached to the lower ends of any designated pair of these lifter-bars, is thereby raised up into its housing or case A.

There are tension-springs Land L attached, respectively, by one of their ends to the case A and by their other ends to the operatingarms I and I, for the purpose of pulling the said arms respectively back to their normal seats after they shall have been thrown forward by the operating-chains H or H. Counterpoise-weights may be used instead of springs L and L. The engaging-lips d and d of the lifting-bars are arranged in steps, as it were, each in succession projecting a little farther forward or backward, as the case may be, from its next adjacent fellow, thereby keeping each of them entirely out of the way of the follower when it is operating on any particular arm. At the moment the lifter-bars rise up in this manner one of the indicator-signs (the lug d or d, as the case may be; it depends upon which end the sign is raised toward) strikes the lower projection or arm, 6 or c, and releases the next card of the series, which is, thereby thrown down, the lower end of the arm a or e striking on top of the lug d or d, as the case may be, and thereby giving the required sign a push downward at the first movement of the said arm, as is indicated by the dotted lines in Fig. 2. Thus each sign in succession is thrown down and remains down to indicate the next station on the line until it in turn shall have been raised up by the lifter-bars, as above described. In this-manner the apparatus is operated by pulling thepull h or ii", thereby raising up the sign D by means of its lifters D and D the operatingbars I and I and their respective followers, the actuating-sectors G and G2 and their operating-chains, and pulls H H and h h the releasing, mechanism (1. 6 e and d 01 and e and efacting harmoniously and coincidently therewith. to produce the raising of one sign and simultaneously with this operation 10weringthe; next sign of the series, as described.

It is desirable to have one or more blank signs at each side of the case, so as to have one down to operate the machine with on its reverse motion or return-trip.

The case A is interiorly subdivided longitudinally by diaphragms or partitions a into separate pockets a, one pocket for each of the signs or cards of the series. This construction greatly facilitates the operation of the machine, as it prevents one sign from contacting or jamming with another in moving it up or down. The diaphragms a also form guides for the operating-catches E E the part containing the hook proper going down on one side of a diaphragm and the operating-lug e or e on the other side thereof, as shown by the full and dotted lines in Fig. 2.

A gong or hell, M, is fixed to some convenient part of the case A, and its hammer-bar m is operated by an attachment to the sector G or G as the case may be, or to some part of the mechanism operated by the said sector, so that at each time a sign is thrown down the bell will be rung by and at the same operation.

Having thus described my invention, I

V the inclosing case or housing, the whole arranged so that when the lower ends of the said swinging bars are thrown down the attached sign is thrown down below the housings or case, so that its name or station is fully disclosed below the said case or housing, and all the other signs are raised up into the case or housing, substantially as described.

2. In a street or station indicator, a sign or tablet having a street or station name on its face pivoted to the lower ends of two swinging lifter-arms, by which both its ends are raised or lowered simultaneously, the lateral actuating-arms by which said lifter-arms are operated, and the hinged followers attached thereto, in combination with the actuatingsectors and their operating chains and pulls, combined and arranged substantially as described and set forth.

3. In a street or station indicator, swinging or 'ertically moving signs provided with upwardly-projecting central hooks on their upper edges arranged to engage with either one of two pivoted dependentand pend ulous hooks placed above the sign and supported by its case, engagement with the said dependent hook made by the simple act of raising the sign up by means of its lifting-bars, which are pivoted to its ends and manipulated or moved laterally toward either end of the case so as to raise the signs up, in which lifting the sign is, by its pendulous lifting-bars, thrown toward one or the other end of the case or housing, as the case may be, so as to make it engage with one or the other of the supporting-hooks, substantially as described and set forth.

4-. In a street or station indicator, downwardly-depending pivoted pendulous hooks attached to the case or housing and placed at equal distances from its longitudinal center and also from the sustaining-axles on which the swinging arms of the signs are mounted, provided with laterally and downwardly moving projecting arms, which permit the engagement therewith of lugs on the next adjacent sign when it is raised up, thereby actuating and releasing the sign next to the one which is raised up, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

5. In a street or station indicator, the lat eral actuating-arms by which the pendulous swinging sign-arms are successively operated or moved so as to throw the signs up, the hinged spring-followers attached to the front ends of the said actuating-arms, in combination with the operating-sectors, their chains, and pulls, substantially as described.

6. In a street or station indicator, the combination of the hinged followers for operating the pendulous sign-arms, the spring cushions attached to the ends of the followers, and spring fender-pieces attached to the inclosingcase, so as to contact with the said cushions when they are thrown down, substantially as described.

7. In a street or station indicator, a case or housing in which the indicator mechanism is inclosed, subdivided by longitudinal partitions or diaphragms into longitudinal pockets, in combination with bifurcated levers E E", pivoted in and to the case or housing over and straddling the said diaphragms, and vertically-adjustable indicator-signs or station-indicators, as described and set forth.

8. In a street or station indicator, longitudinal bars placed parallel with and above the signtablet, and attachable thereto by inwardly and upwardly projecting hooks or ledges adapted to catch to and hold up the sign-pieces, which, at their upper edges, are provided with horizontal ledges or ribs adapted to rest on the upper ends of said sustaininghooks, the whole combined and arranged as described and set forth.

WILLIAM L. GROW.

Witnesses:

W. L. BENNEM, F. 0. FROST. 

